Different Bloods
by bakerstreetchick22
Summary: As the adopted daughter of Thor and Jane, I was required to live in Asgard. Cursed with the gift of dark magic, I was an outcast within the court that I was forced to be apart of. Engulfed with questions about myself and my magic, I felt as though there was no one who could understand me. Then I met him, in the forest on a snowy night while I was trying running away.
1. Chapter 1

It all started on a chilly winter night in Asgard. I was running through the court garden, my golden hair dancing behind me in the pale starlight. No one was out in this area of the icy garden except a lonely raven circling far above me. I had just escaped from my room by practicing some of my forbidden magic skills. Thor and Jane wouldn't notice that I was missing…

Jane was always so busy with her own children, and Thor, well he was too busy drinking. I knew he would be out all night gulping mead with his friends. The banquet five days from now celebrating Uncle Loki's return to the family was making things even more stressful than usual. Since Odin had announced it two weeks ago, Jane and Thor had been fighting day and night. Thor was cautiously in favor, but Jane was very much opposed. My Uncle had always been hushed subject. I couldn't even have told you what he looked like, but I was insanely curious about him, even if it was just because Jane despised him. It didn't take much eves-dropping to gleam that. A small smirk crossed my lips as I thought of how she would kill me for being so inquisitive.

Softly, I slipped along the towering hedges, careful not to take any of the paths lest I be spotted. My heart skipped a beat as I saw the peaks of the trees over the garden wall. I had wanted to go to the taverns in the forest behind the court for as long as I could remember. I could meet someone. I could fall in love and make love. I could do whatever I wanted, and be whoever I wanted. I felt like I was going crazy inside the palace, longing to be free. Now that I was actually going, it felt surreal. The closer and and closer I got to the wall the happier I felt. Finally, in the chill of the snow, I reached the last barrier between me and the outside world.

I knew I had no hope of climbing it, especially now that the frost had covered Asgard with ice. There was only one way out of here. I took a deep breath, and tried to remember what I had read when I snuck into Friga's magic room. This was the moment of truth. I summoned the energy inside my veins out to my finger tips, making my skin tingle. Mimicking an illustration I had seen, I spread my hands out gradually wider. Suddenly, my energy released from within me and branched out from my hands in a silver light, creating a portal to the other side of the wall. Granted it was a shaky, smallish sort of portal, but it didn't need to be perfect. Draw my hood and gathering up my fur cape I slipped through it.

"My, my, silver is so ravishing in a maid… It's such a lethal color."

"What?" I looked around in shock to see the raven that had been circling earlier perched in the tree above me. It looked at me with his big onyx eyes, pondering my hands that still were glowing from the spell.

"What are you, demon?" I spat, hiding my hands in my cape, subtly reaching for my dagger in case it was needed.

The silky bird laughed seductively, "Demon? Hmm from sweetest mouths comes the vilest of language. No maid, I am no demon. I come from a different lineage of hell." He tilted his head to the side and I was struck with how dangerously beautiful he was, with the starlight shining on his inky feathers. The hypnotic gaze he seemed to hold over me was terrifying and bewitching at the same time. Maybe the taverns could wait a while.

"Why have you come to me hell-bird? To take my rebellious little soul?" I smarted with my hands on my hips.

"No," he crooned disinterestedly, "I don't want your soul. I am not in the habit of devouring wayward girls. I am just looking for some entertainment... like you." He tilted his head into what only be described as a smirk.

"What could a bird understand of my actions?" I sneered up at his branch, giving him a dismissing wave of my hand before starting of into the forest again.

 ** _"The pleasures of mortal men will never sate you."_**

His growled words stopped me dead in my tracks. I felt like I would burn a hole into the thick layer of snow beneath my feet, as my face heated up with indignation.

"You would be much better served by your fingers then their shafts, for your hands can do so many things." He crooned seductively behind me.

I couldn't seem to move as my hood hung down over my face. His words pierced me, staking me to where I stood with shame. With a sublet breeze the raven swooped down from his branch and landed in front of me. He was much bigger up close than he seemed up in the tree. The sheer weight of his magical aura was imposing, making the atmosphere darken as it became laced with raw sexual energy.

"What do you want from me?" I asked in a slightly broken voice. My right hand began wring the handle of my dagger nervously under my cap.

"Do you know why they forbid you your magic?"

My head sunk even lower, for my magically abilities had always been something I had been shamed for. "It's for my own protection," I shakily started, "and for everyone else's too, because it is dangerous and it would consume me. It's not normal. I'm not normal."

"Do not confine yourself to normality my sweet maid." The way the word "maid" slipped of his tongue made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. "The darkness touches but a few… And what it claims can never be restrained. You possess a dreadful gift that can never be returned, but it can be opened."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You bleed chaos…" He murmured while spreading his wings in satisfaction. "And I crave it. It seeps out from your very soul. The gods, _ha,_ they fear what they cannot bridle. So fond are they of their trappings and bonds that they would rather see you go mad then go free."

"Are you free?" I asked quietly.

"Free?" The raven laughed with neither joy nor sadness, and looked into my wide blue eyes. "Believe that I am maid." Suddenly, he swooped up in a swirling cloud of feathers and green smoke. Terrified, I drew my blade just to be pounced upon and shoved to the ground by a massive force. The icy snow stung against my thighs as they where crushed against it, while both of my wrist were held above my head in an iron grasp. I tried to scream. I wanted to scream. But as the dark green smoke cleared I found myself looking straight into the most beautiful pair of green eyes I had ever seen. They were so dark and pure, with flecks of gold glowing around the pupils. They shot through me with every heart beat like a virus, gradually making me sicker with every quiver of my breath.

"Tell me maid," the now man hoarsely whispered, "would you like it very much if I taught you such tricks?" My breath hitched in my throat in excitement, as he pressed even deeper into me. My eyes fixated up into the sky as he leaned around into my ear, his black hair brushing my neck, his breath tingling against my skin. "I won't tame you, for there's nothing more I hunger for than the unbroken. You will never want for freedom or power again. So what say you maid, will you be mine?"

The milky moonlight glistened through the evergreen branches into my full eyes, as the lazy snow flakes drifted onto my flushed skin. "…yes…" I whispered, half willingly and half compelled by his unescapable presence.

"Good." He said as if praising a child, and he kissed my neck with a greed that made me wonder what exactly I had just agreed to. No squire, or courtesan that I had coquettishly kissed had made me feel like this. His mouth traveled up to mine, and my lips were molded under his, sending shockwaves through my body. His hands moved down to clench my waist and heat filled my body. I was _his._


	2. Chapter 2

The blurry image of my bedroom window shone into my sleepy eyes as they blinked open. I impulsively rolled away from the grey light. The deep cushion of my thick comforter enveloped me from the chill that lurked outside my bed. The hazy sounds of the palace drifted into my ears, nudging me from my strange dreams of a bird and a man and a kiss. The more I woke up, the more the feeling of his lips upon my mine swelled into my mind. I laid completely outstretched in my bed, and boredom crept over my hands. I was aching to touch myself. Rather greedily I slid my hands down my thighs to the warmth in between them.

"So ravishing in a maid…"

I replayed his voice in my mind as I began to rhythmically stroke myself. Within minutes I felt the pressure building. Dipping my fingers into myself, a shock of carnal pleasure pierced my body. I was so close. Sweat broke across my brow, as I lustily pumped in and out. My breath was shallow and fast. So close.

"Will you be mine?"

Suddenly, a deep feeling of relaxation spread over me. I eased back into my pillow as I rode the waves of satisfaction from my release. The wind was howling outside and I shivered. I stared out into the grey dawn as flecks of snow began to hit the panes of my window. I froze. I felt like I was being watched. I laid very still, the sound of the awakening storm filling my ears. My eyes slowly scanned around the room, but saw nothing. I inhaled sharply, as a rush of fear and excitement coursed through me. I knew someone was there with me, just beyond the plane of sight, their presence filled the whole room with shadows. My eyes darkened. It felt like him. It felt like his lust.

"Ophila!" Called Lady Maria, my governess, knocking on my door.

I cringed, as she shattered the moment. I would have to leave my fantasies to join to world of normal people. "Yes, Lady Maria." Reluctantly, I crawled out of bed and padded across the chilly stone floor. My door opened with a creak to reveal the stiff figure of Maria, her dark hair braided into an elaborate updo. She looked at me skeptically through her dark eyes.

"See to it that you come to the Odinshall, once your presentable. Today we are rehearsing the Maiden's Dance for the banquet. I expect you remember the sequence."

"Yes Lady Maria." I replied, already imagining the dread of having to perform that dance in front of all those people.

"Good. Now hurry up."

I might not have wanted to do what she says, but I was no hurry to incur her wrath, so I busily obeyed her command. I closed the door, going to dress promptly. I quickly sifted through the sea of frilly dress in my wardrobe. I had always been instinctively drawn to darker colors like black and grey, but such colors are the colors of mourning, vale witches, and pleasure houses, so no of my dresses were dark. Jane saw to it that I was kept in innocent clothing.

"I wish I had something else…" I muttered as I plucked out an indifferent blue gown and hastily threw it on.

Swiftly, I left my room and went out into the palace corridors. Even though I was rushing through the halls, I couldn't quite shake the feeling of invisible eyes turning once more upon me. My heart quickened. Did it really happen? Was it more than a dream? Is he actually here? My eyes darted from their coves at every face of every servant that passed me, hoping, wondering if one of them was him. I knew could shape shift into animals, but could take he another's form?

I mentally slapped myself for being so silly. Nothing happened last night. No powerful, mysterious, raven haired man could exist outside of storybooks. I was just lonely. No one wanted me, the adopted daughter who broods and has strange dark powers. The Asgardians are very closed minded people and if someone is an anomaly, they are not accepted. I was expected to behave according to their rules, like that was going to help me fit in after everyone found out I could bleed magic like sliver from my hands. The truth is I was miserable, angry.

"Are you free?"

The question that I had asked in rung in my head and burrowed a hollow pit in me. I wasn't free, not in the slightest. I bitterly paced forward, not looking at the servants any more. I came upon the great doors of Odinshall shortly. The sweet music of the lyre flittered through the cracks. I forced a neutral expression on my face, and pushed the doors open.

I danced for her, my governess, for hours. My feet mimicking each movement with an empty robotic like grace. My steps told the journey of the maiden through bounding through spring into summer into love. Happy chords vibrated from the instruments of the players and drummed through my head. My body blankly drifted along, while I churned inside. I wanted to believe so badly that he was real.

After the dancing was through, the day unfolded like it always did. I lunched alone, then sewed alone, and then sang alone, with no one but Lady Maria to keep me company. It seemed that the dream had made feel even more isolated, tempting me with what it would be like for someone to understand, to love me. For fleeting moments, I thought that I felt someone just graze my shoulder, or touched a strand of my hair, but it was so soft it felt like an illusion. Painfully my mind became fixated upon the dream. I took it apart again and again, looking for specks of reality.

Conflicted, I returned that night to my room. I closed the door softly, and took my shoes off of my sore feet. Wearily, I walked over to my wardrobe to take off my horrid, confoundedly frilly dress. As I shrugged off one sleeve and opened the doors, a rush of cold chills filled my body. All of my clothes had been emptied from the wardrobe. In their place was a gift. A beautiful silver and grey dress with a lone raven feather siting gently upon its shoulder. He was real.


	3. Chapter 3

The stars shone above me again as I ran out into the garden. My heart raced as I slipped between the bushes, my silver dress softly swishing around me in the snow. I couldn't believe it. I was freer than the wind that sweeps through the fields of Valhalla. I bounded up to the wall at the edge of the garden and repeated the same movements as before and my magic swelled like a powerful platinum river from my hands. The portal blossomed into twice the size as the one before, and I darted through it into the forest.

A stillness permeated the woods, like a sleepy dream it reached out to me and ushered me into its darkness. I could feel him here, his talons around every branch and his wings forming every shadow. The sweet sensation of fear and of want and of sadness hung like incense in between the pines. My hands were quaking. Whether it was from the portal or from him, I didn't know. Cautiously, I walked deeper and deeper out into the still forest, the snow crunching under my feet. The pale moon beams cut across the trees and pierced down onto the snowbanks. My wide doe eyes peered up through the branches and I felt something pulling me into the heart of the forest. I weaved instinctually through the towering trees for what seemed like forever until I arrived at a large perfectly circular clearing.

The wind hushed by me and a chill traveled up my spine as I spied him in the center, with his back towards me. The crystal moonlight shone on his raven haired splendor and I was hopelessly entranced. He seemed suspended like a statue, with broad impossibly graceful shoulders and a flowing emerald cape that fluttered in the wind. His lean body was clad in fine green and gold armor like a God. He stood with a meditative silence that made him even more beautiful. I could not help but stand there in awe.

"One would think you that **_want_** me-" He murmured, his deep voice sending shockwaves through my body, "-eyeing me like that."

I stood in silence, convicted by my desire and fighting with the propriety I had been raised. Slowly, a bold smile sneaked onto my once proper lips. "One would think you want me too. Why else would you watch me in my bed?"

"I want many things." He hissed, turning his towering figure around to face me, his magnetic green eyes locking onto to mine before trailing down my body. The silver dress fit like nothing I had ever owned before, clinging to all my curves. "My, what a temptress did those gowns disguise!" He smirked while beginning to stalk lustfully towards me.

"If you enjoyed what you see-" I said tilting my hips seductively, "-perhaps you should rip it off." He stopped dead in his tracks. I blushed furiously, utterly surprised at what I had just said.

"Fair but not virtuous!" He exclaimed with laughter. "We are fortunately matched, for no good girl could ever appeal to my sensibilities."

"So I do appeal to you?" I said, striding out a little farther into the clearing to meet him, my heart absolutely pounding with anticipation. Suddenly, he snatched me into his strong embrace. His eyes trailed down to my chest, where the plunging neckline of my dress was trimmed with fur. His slender and powerful hand rose to stroke the fur lining, his fingertips brushing against my open skin.

"All this enticement-" He whispered, leaning into my ear, "-will get you devoured." His hand ventured farther down till it was caressing my breast. "And I'd hate to see you get plucked before you ripen. Oh, you have so much to learn little one." He sighed pulling me in like was he going to consume me in the most perverted way. "Shall we begin our first lesson?" I shakily nodded. He released me from his grasp and stepped out into the center of the clearing. I jumped, as with a flick of his fingers a glowing pentagram that filled the entire clearing burst forth onto the snow.

"If you are to remain by my side we must have clarity." He began, as with elegant gestures of his hands he conjured green smoke from the air. "You must forget all your previous teaching about Gods and kings and men and women. Most of them are lies and even more are abominations. They would have you think that you were never born to be a God and that your name would never grace the pages of a holy text. Violent. Corrupted. **_Dark_**. They say these things like they are curses, but Hell has its divinity too, and you are one." I observed him with intense curiosity. He wasn't all tricks. That was obvesous now, hearing him speak and seeing him focus so intently. He had _intensions_.

"From which lineage you harken from or from which blood you have sprung I do not know, but be certain they do." He continued as the clouds of smoke begin to dance around the clearing, guided by his hands. "That is why they have fostered you so close to their bosom, suffocated you in their embrace, put you down, and made you taste their displeasure concerning your talents. It is because they want to control you. It is because you can become equal with them, yea even greater than the God's of Asgard, but become a God of the Old Faith." A jolt of energy and fury shot through his hands as he quickly extended his arms, commanding the smoke to freeze into a pantheon of shadowy creatures all around us. A horse, a cobra, a cat, a wolf, a panther, nearly every named and unnamed beast had been summoned, including a raven suspended in the sky.

"Know that they fear you." He growled with impassioned fervor, his gaze bearing down on me. "Know your worth. Never let them deprive you of your rightful glory." The wounds of centuries flickered for a fraction of a second in his eyes before he regained himself. I gazed at the magical shadow creatures, my hands running over the silk of the dress.

"What do you want with me?" I asked, looking back up at his ghostly glory, filled with desire and devotion.

"I want you to know what true power feels like." With a swooping motion of his hand, all of the shadow creatures were wrought out of the smoke, transformed into flesh and bone. The lion and the slinky cats of the forest prowled around us, and the mysterious things of the night sky circled above us. He was inside everyone at once, from the snake to the bee, his green eyes flashing from their collective coves. Without warning just as quickly as they had come alive they disappeared into golden dust that burned up in the air. He softly picked up both of my hands and held them in his. The strength that rested behind his gentle touch made me tremble.

"But if you don't know where I came from, how can you claim that I could ever be such a God?" I said with my head low. "None the less do something like that." I stared at the pentagram still glowing beneath our feet. The truth is I had never seen real magic practiced, only little bits I that had glimpsed in the Priestess's Chambers.

"My pet… do you not know a lion by its roar, or a snake by its bite?" He exclaimed while caressing my hands. "I did not say I didn't know your powers. When you have fallen from Heaven I as have, you are caught by many different people on the way down."

My mind began to spin with all of this. "Who are you?"

"I?" He laughed mirthlessly, reaching up to cup my cheeks, "I am a God of another world. I am the man that would be king. I am your lover and your lord, if you'll take me, and you will take me in time, my sweet." With that, he planted a lusty kiss on my mouth.

I leaned for more, but as I did I sat straight up in bed. It was morning, and there was a feather in my hand.


	4. Chapter 4

I dreamed the whole day away on a cloud of bliss, not even my lessons could interrupt my good cheer, nothing except the horror that was known as the weekly family dinner. A couple years ago, the ticking time bomb that was Jane and Thor's marriage blew up. Jane had always been insanely jealous of Lady Sif and Thor, well, he never heeded to her jealousy. As soon as he thought that the children were old enough to be alright with him being gone on long battle campaigns, he returned to his old life. That old life included prolonged ventures into foreign realms with Lady Sif. Jane would not tolerate any such venture, but Thor would not tolerate staying home, or going without Sif. Thus, a thousand suspicious arguments arose like noxious clouds. It did not help that it was well known that Sif had been love with Thor since she was a young girl, or that Odin had approved of their pairing in the past.

This was the only time that my exclusion from the family proved to my benefit, sheltering me, for Alexandria and Gwen, my two two adoptive siblings, were never the same. Alexandria took the mantle of the older responsible figure well before it was her time, become bitter and distant in her premature adulthood, and Gwen became needy and spoiled, playing the victim since she was the youngest, even though there was only four months between us. Nothing but a shell seemed to be left of the people who used to belong to this house. Dinner was only a painful ceremony that was performed to prove that in some ritual sense we were still a family.

Tonight, however, was not a usual night. Friga had decided to join us as well. She was always the nicest of my adoptive family, but she wasn't here to talk to me, but rather to mend to ever the deepening fissure that was opening between Jane and Thor about the latest crisis, Loki. Both Friga and Thor were now firmly on the side of this mysterious uncle, but Jane still wasn't having it. Jane's opinions didn't matter though. Loki was coming in three days whether Jane liked it or not, so I tried to ignore their troublesome conversation as much as possible, hoping to be excused as soon as possible.

I was impatient for him. The idea that I was running away to run to him, disobeying to obey him, made me flourish. I was chosen to become the mistress of a God I knew nothing about but I wanted him. I knew he could be playing with me, and that this affair might not last, but that did not matter. I could be crushed, but I would rather be broken by him than lying dusty on a shelf, overlooked by this family and the so called good men of Asgard. I sat there picking at my food, restless to return to him.

"So…" Gwen began, settling into a smirk across from me. "I saw you practicing the Maiden's Dance yesterday." Her eyes glowed haughtily at me from under the down of her lashes.

"Yes, I did." I said coldly, knowing that Gwen was going to be ruthless. We were at the end of the banquet table and the adults were too busy debating to notice our minuscule conversation. She always lashed out when she thought no one was watching.

"Well, I guess you do have practice. As for me, my governess said that I didn't practice at all." She tilted her noble head back while sipping some sweet wine delicately.

"Is that so…" I said pretending to be interested.

Another smirk grew across her mouth. "I guess that's because I have the interests of many so many noble boys and you have none. Philip, Bjorn, and Malcolm are all falling over themselves to escort me."

"Pity your champions are so clumsy." I cut, feeling empowered. Gwen didn't scare me anymore.

Her eyes got wide as I never defended myself. "Pity you're so clumsy. I bet even if you practice all day from here till the banquet you couldn't get a single boy!" Her voice hissed quietly under the clamor of the Loki conversation.

"I honestly couldn't care less about any of it." I proudly leaned forward.

 _"What?"_ She leaned forward too. "You couldn't care less about being a miserable little witch, or is that you couldn't care less about boys? Hmm? Do not like boys is that it? Do you fancy something else? You tainted little bitch. Is it Maidens? Horses? Elves-"

"-You're right! _I don't like boys._ "

As soon as that proclamation left my lips, we both simultaneously realized that my voice was the only one to be heard. Thor, Jane, Alexandria, and Friga were all looking at us in awe. A hot swell rose into my cheeks.

"I like **_men_**." I stated as boldly and as swiftly as I could, not giving Gwen could a chance to spew excuses for herself or lies about me.

"Ophelia!" Jane scolded. "How dare you say such a thing!"

Thor laughed heartily, apparently amused at me. "Do not fret. She might turn out as something yet."

"How can you approve?" Jane scowled.

"The child has spirit." He shrugged.

"That child just stated she likes men, _grown men_." She pointed at me with an incriminating finger. "You are nothing but a rebellious slut-"

"May I be excused?" I declared, rising from the table to astonishment of Jane.

"Yes, you may go." Friga answered softly, glancing at my untouched food and Jane's vile expression.

"Thank-you." I murmured, curtsying before I left, the sound of bickering reviving behind my back as soon as I closed the doors to the banquet hall. I didn't know who I was anymore. I wouldn't have said or done any of that before. I would have just sat there and taken it. Was I really that meek before? Had I really been that afraid of them? I wouldn't pretend and say that their words didn't hurt me, but it felt so good to stand up to them. I swiftly traveled down the corridors towards my room. **_"Child?"_** I thought, the label ringing in my mind as I began ascending the little spiral staircase that led to my bedroom. **_"Is that what they think of me?"_**

A sublet cold breeze blew by me from up the stairs. It was always kind of drafty in the court, but this was frigid. I started to go up the steps a little more slowly. A thin layer of ice crystals now covered the stone walls, making them shine. Cautiously, I arrived at the landing of stairs. My door was encrusted in blueish ice and a frosty light was piercing through the cracks of the doorframe. Slowly, I approached my door, grasping the frozen doorknob. A rush of goosebumps crossed my skin. My hand moved without conscience thought and with a click the knob turned. The door flew open to another world of sweeping snow drifts and heavy blue clouds. A lonely grey castle lay in the distance, beaten by the elements, and rising like a jagged spire above the landscape. I knew in an instant that it was _his_.


	5. Chapter 5

I stepped through the door and into this bleak new world of ice, placing myself firmly into the snow. The cold bit into my feet, instantly piercing through my thin shoes. This was real. A surge of confusing emotions flew through me: awe, fear, joy, and freedom. _"What kind of a person can bridge the gap between worlds?"_ I wondered, in astonishment. The ice crystals whipped against my face as I peered out into the distance at the windswept castle. Ice had encased its stone walls and spires eons ago, preserving it in a thick crystal shell. My eyes caught movement coming from the castle's black gates. I ran forward into the snowy expanse to see what it was, but as soon as I did, I heard a rushing sound behind me. I turned around to see the opening to my world closing. In a vortex, my door vanished into the same golden sparks that the animals in the forest did.

My heart jumped into my throat. I was in deep this time. There was no returning home unless he wanted me to. I was trapped here with him. I heard the sounds of steps racing towards me. They stopped just behind my back, softly coming to a halt. I could feel his breath brush by me in a wave of warmth. I turned back around towards the castle.

"I…" My voice failed me as I stared up at the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. It was a great white fox, much taller than me, with a soft bushy tail that swept behind him in a curl. His green eyes glowed like glass at me.

"Here I find you again…" He sighed, his voice gruff and predatory. "All alone, wandering with no escort to protect your honor. What would your mother say?" He bent his majestic head down to my eye level.

"Jane is not my mother." I spat.

"Remember it." He growled, flashing his pearly fangs. "Now, get on." He ordered, bending his knees so that he was low enough that I could on his back. I reached out shyly, my hand wanting to retreat coyly as soon as it touched his soft fur.

"No need to be timid. My back hardly the lewdest thing I will ever ask you to mount."

I blushed as I climbed onto him, flinging my legs over his sides. His ears twitched attentively as I ran my hands through his fur.

"Brace yourself little one."

With a surge, we bolted out onto the expanse of snow. I hung on for dear life as he bounded over the snow drifts and icy cracks towards the castle. I could feel the pulsing of his muscles underneath his thick coat as he ran. _"Is this where he is from?"_ I wondered, glancing up at the sky that was churning with blue clouds. A pit grew in my stomach. " _Was he here all alone?_ " My dress was thin against the elements and I clung even more to the warmth of his fur as we flew onwards, approaching the castle. Its black gates were thrust open in anticipation of our coming.

"What happened here?" I asked as I noticed blast marks dotting the impressive exterior of the castle.

"Asgard happened here." He answered as we came through the gate and into the courtyard. He bent his elegant limbs down and let me off. I was breathless and chilled as I stepped down onto the permafrost bitten pave stones. The courtyard was wide and grand enough to challenge those of Asgard, but the stains of war were here too. Scorch marks streaked up the walls and statues were smashed and in ruins. Bones were strewn amongst discarded weapons. It wreaked of death and sadness.

"Desecration, disguised under the white wings of peace." He murmured, sweeping his tail around himself, becoming a cloud of smoke. His emerald cape fell softly around him as he once again he became a man as the smoke dispelled. "They pretend there are sinless when in truth they are not. Their glory is shrouded in dishonor, and they take just like everyone else."

I had known that Asgard had fought many wars in many realms, and I remembered the songs of the ice world that had been crushed at the hands of Odin and his father Bor. "Is this Jotunheim?" I asked tenuously.

"Yes…" He responded distantly.

The hate and emotion covered his face could only be read one way. This was his home. My head hung with guilt as remembered how I sang along to those songs at the feast days held in Odin's honor. And then thought of Thor, always treating war as a sport. Him and his friends and his precious Lady Sif drinking to their ambitions like they had just won some sort of a prize. Who were they to tell me that I was evil when they crushed plants for laughs? My hands clenched into fists.

"Take me!" I declared, to both of our surprise. "I want to be yours. I'm sick of Asgard. I'm sick of them. I'm sick of me… Of who I am- was- whatever. I don't know who you are, or what you need, or what your planning to do, but I don't care. I want to be by your side. You said you wanted me as your lover than make it so. I am a willing. I will-"

My burst of emotion was stopped as he held me in a passionate kiss~


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes:**

 **Warning this is NSFW. If you do not want read the sexy bits, please just skip ahead to the next chapter!**

* * *

My eyes fluttered open as we were enveloped in green smoke. With a rush, we were transported into a bedroom deep within the castle. He broke the kiss, his eyes darkening with desire as he looked at me.

"I had thought to wait a little longer, but you since you seem so enthusiastic-" He smirked, aggressively knocking me back into the massive bed, "-You will sate me now." He twirled his fingers and my clothes evaporated off without warning. I was left completely exposed in front of him, a sacrificial offering to his lust. My hands impulsively covered myself as I shied away from him. /p

"What's a matter?" He purred, leaning down over me, trapping me under his muscular body. "Afraid of excitement? I thought you longed for this?"

His long raven hair brushed my cheek. His eyes burned into my soul. /p

"…I do…"

"Say it again." He commanded, pressing his body into mine.

"I do," I said more boldly, looking back into his eyes.

"Say it so that I can hear you, woman."

"I DO-"

With hungry passion his mouth crashed into mine, cutting me off. His hands were all over me, traveling around my waist and down my hips. Our lips collided over and over again as he ground his growing erection into my thigh. His tongue hungrily slipped into my mouth, exploring every corner. I let out a muffled moaned into his mouth as he wedged my legs apart, his knee rubbing against my wetness. Desperate for friction, I twisted against his leg. I was so wet already that if I had had any pride left I would have been ashamed, but I didn't care. I wanted his touch more than anything in the world.

Shakily, my hands ran through his inky black hair as he turned his attention to my neck, leaving a trail of bite marks and wet kisses. I squirmed as his mouth wound down to my collar bone, kissing every sensitive spot. Nothing seemed safe from him as he proceeded to unraveled me in erotic pleasure.

I whimpered as his lips met my breasts. His eyes peered up at me while his tongue hypnotically stroked one of my nipples. Ravenously, he began sucking and toying with them, his teeth leaving little red marks. One of his hands snuck down in between my thighs, brushing my swollen clit. I wrung as he began to mercilessly stoke it. It made lewd wet noises when he rubbed back and forth. He teased me, going just fast enough to make me moan, before going slower, building a twisting heat under his touch.

"My Lord!" I groaned, not sure if I could take it any more.

"Louder!" He ordered, continuing to finger fuck me, dipping one of his long fingers.

"My Lord!" I screamed again as he speed up. Sweat began to pour off of me. My thighs were tense and I felt a knot building my stomach. His other hand rose up to my neck, keeping me pinned to the bed while I writhed.

"Faster-Faster-Faster!- Agh!-" My breath hitched in my throat as he began pumping in and out of me even faster. My hands desperately grabbed a fistful of his hair as I pulled him into a frantic kiss. The tenseness of my body was beginning to reach its peak. My vision faded out into white lights as my body was overcome with pulsating contractions. Another forceful thrust and I was undone, collapsing back into the bed in a surge of ecstasy. He twisted his finger around in me one last time, before pulling it drenching wet up to his mouth, just inches away from my face, and sucking it in the most seductive movement I had ever seen in my life. He smirked at my obvious entrancement, before easing off the bed.

I sat and watched in exhaustion and anticipation as he unclasped his armor, revealing his pale marble like skin and lean muscles. Gentle scars crossed his abbs and chest, evidence of battles with aggressors that I knew nothing about. A pang shot though me as it reminded me how little about the man that was posed to consume me. With every piece of clothing that dropped to the floor, I fell farther and farther in. I couldn't imagine any future that didn't include him loving me, fucking me, possessing me. It was the purest of lust. He unbuckled his tight leather pants, letting them fall to reveal his enormous erect length. I eyed it, rubbing my thighs together eager for his touch.

"Your so desperate for me aren't you?" He teased, stroking his cock with his hand. "You little tart."

He hungrily pushed me farther onto the bed, flipping me over so that I was on all fours. His powerful arms wrapped around me, grabbing onto my hips. He leaned into me, his chest pressing down on to my back.

"You will remember this night for as long as you live." He said, his lips upon my ear. "Now cry for me." With that, he thrust into me and I yelled out of the darkest pleasure I had ever known. He began to ram into me with relentless energy. It was hot and fast. The sounds of skin hitting skin filled the bedroom. I held onto the sheets for dear life. His moans were heavy and shaky, filled with animalistic need.

He turned me over on my back, dowsing me in another wave of kisses that covered my whole body before continuing to pound into me. His beautiful alabaster skin glowed with sweat and his muscles tensed with each thrust. My mind began to drift in and out as I clung to him. He rode me relentlessly, pleasuring me beyond what I knew what was possible. We both began to shake as he pushed deeper and deeper into me.

"More- More- Please!" I whined as I grew excruciatingly close again.

"Good girl!" He grunted, "Beg for me."

"Fuck me- Please!" I yelled, twisting under him, my head spinning.

He laughed gruffly while grabbing my hips so he could plunge himself even deeper into me.

"Gods!" I screamed.

I was floating in another dimension of heat and bliss. I clawed his back as he started pushing me over the edge. His thrusts began to grow quicker and his body began quivering. His breath beat down on me like a drum. I began chanting a mantra of broken English. My toes curled as the warmth that had been pooling in my stomach built into a fire. I couldn't take it anymore, I was plunged into another wave of pleasure. I clenched around him and he cried out. In a flood of relaxation we were both undone. I felt him weaken in my arms, succumbing to his orgasm and collapsing onto my chest. He looked so pure and exhausted upon my breast. It was hard believe that something this good could be wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

Our revelry extended far into the night as we went for several more rounds, until we were left wasted and glowing. In a strange bed on an even stranger world, I couldn't have felt more at home. I fell asleep to awaken the next day in my own bed, safe and sound as if nothing had happened. My leg ached from the desperation of his lovemaking the night before. I felt used and in a wicked way I love it. I had never been a virtuous girl. I had had sex before, but it was the disappointing boring teenage kind of sex that makes you question what a loveless marriage is like. It had never been passionate, and it had most definitely never been attached to the promise of a relationship. It had been never like this.

My heart sank a bit as eased myself off the bed. I wondered how long I was going to have to live this double life. I pulled my nightgown down, revealing the little satin bruises that his mouth left along my breasts. It couldn't go on forever, none of this could. He could be mysterious and aloof and sexy… I bit my lip, tracing along where his mouth had been... But sooner or later the truth would have to come out. He wanted more than my body. He wanted my power. Almost just as much as I wanted his power, but for what I didn't know. My magic felt like nothing in comparison to his.

He was a God. There was no doubt about in my mind now. No mortal man or simple sorcerer could create paths between worlds without the Bifrost or the help of Odin. He was incredible, and it I would have been a lie to say to that I wasn't the smallest bit afraid of him, even if that fear made me want him more.

The sounds of the court bell tolling jolted me from my thoughts, and I hustled out of bed. I completely forgot that Odin was going to call the court into session today in preparation for Uncle Loki's return. I ran over to my wardrobe and hastily dressed before bounding down the stairs. I just finished plaiting my hair as I entered the court kitchen to grab a breakfast roll and cheese. I was left absolutely starving from the excitement of the night before. I quickly ate as I slipped around the columns that lined the entrance to the main reception hall. I stopped dead in my track as I heard Odin's booming voice coming from behind the imposing doors. It had begun without me.

"Alright. Alright." I said to myself trying to calm myself down. "I'll just go in through the back way. Right? No one will notice I'm missing anyway."

I swiftly started heading around to the back entrance, making my way up a small flight of stairs that were tucked behind the columns. The stairs wound around to a secluded upper balcony that overlooked the Grand Hall. From here I could see everything and everybody.

"Despite his many transgressions, Loki is still my son and your prince." Odin's authoritarian tone sent chills through my body as he rested upon the throne. "He is to be respected as such in Asgard and across the realms. Any mention of his previous wrongdoings or misdemeanors will be seen as a crime against Asgard."

The court held themselves in obedient and grim silence. I was amazed as I had never seen anything like this before, not since Odin had declared war on Svartalfheim, and even that had some joyous bloodthirstiness to it. I crept slowly in the shadows, not sure if I should go down and risk interrupting.

"His past is forgotten to us. He is Odinson." Odin let the foot of his scepter hit the floor with a deafening boom. "He is restored."

A stilted round of fanfare rang out from the crowd. Using this distraction, I snuck down the central stairway from the balcony and descended into the hall. A couple of eyes tracked me, lurking around the edge of the crowd, but I managed to not cause a scene as I slipped into the background of the royal party. A sour pit formed in my stomach as I saw Jane glare at me. Apparently my absence had not gone unnoticed. We smiled for a few more seconds as the court's fake joy began to painfully evaporate. The speech was over, people wanted to get on with their lives. Sighing, Odin rose and dismissed the crowd, before heading into his royal reception room with Thor close on his heels.

"What is with you!" Jane said furiously under breath, as she brought me to the side, grabbing me before I went anywhere.

"I'm sorry. I forgot it was today." I said, hanging my head low.

"I suppose you also forgot to sleep too? When Lady Maria came to room this morning she said you weren't there." She looked at me with wide eyes.

"I didn't really sleep last night," I said, cautiously. "Actually, I didn't sleep well at all. I had nightmares." My voice trembled because it was it true that I did have nightmares often, the kind of nightmares that made me sweat. "At first light I went out into the garden to walk, hoping to clear my mind. I often do so when I am troubled."

An excruciating long pause transpired between the two of us.

"You're just like him aren't you." Jane coldly whispered.

"What?"

"You're a liar." She hissed. "Just. Like. Him."

"Who?" I asked in confusion, my stomach turning because for once her accusations had some truth to them.

"Loki, that's who. That silver tongued serpent! You and him are cut from the same cloth. Love is lost on you."

Her words whipped into me. "You know nothing-"

"-Wake up Ophelia!" She snapped, "Before one day you find yourself trapped in your own web with no one to help you. Rest assured, I will find out where you were last night, if not from you but from the palace guards. I will not have another Loki festering under my nose. My house will not be brought down with wickedness like Odin's was."

Friga glanced our way from the conversation she was having nearby with some ladies of the court. Any anger I that I had toward Jane in that moment transformed into bitter shame. I had felt disgrace and dishonor before when I was mocked for my abilities, but at least then I had some comfort in knowing that deep down they were baseless. But now there was no defense. I was what she said I was, a liar, and what worse is that this felt like only the beginning of the many more sins that I would commit in the name of freedom. I looked down at the floor, trying to compose myself.

"Can I leave now." I pleaded.

"Yes, you may go." Jane waved her hand dismissively.

I practically bolted for the door. I ran out into the massive hall and just kept on going. I didn't even know where I was heading, just somewhere far away from them. I flew through the gardens and the corridors and before I knew it I had wound up in the secluded library. Hidden behind the rows and rows of books and relics, no one could see me there. I drew myself into the most concealed reading nook that I could find. I shakily ran my fingers through my hair.

"Am I wicked?" I murmured, my head resting in my hands as unsure tears pooling my eyes. "I know you can hear me. So don't pretend you can't."

A tendril of green smoke brushed by me.

"My sweet," He said, placing his finger under my chin and drawing it up so that I would at him. "Everyone's wicked every once in a while."


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes:**

 **Again this is a NSFW chapter. I will try and post an edited chapter that contains the same info and story progression minus the more graphic parts later. Enjoy!**

* * *

"You actually came to me…" I whispered in shock, looking up into his hypnotic eyes. "I thought maybe you would answer me, but to come? How does Heimdall not know you here? He can see every soul within the court's walls cannot he not?"

Faint sunlight poured in from the distant windows and warmed his face as he gazed down upon me. "You speak the truth. He does see every soul, but like I have said to you before, you have much to learn." A shadowy smile crossed his lips as he sat down next to me. His lengthy limbs stretched down next to mine, glowing in their golden armor. "Did you really think that I would not come for the one I call lover when she called? If I did not respond to her, what better would I be than a tramp."

He placed his lips upon my cheek and everything blurred into each other: the family, the shame, the loneliness, the condemnation. I couldn't contain it anymore. I melted in the light of his kindness, collapsing into his arms. Tears began streaming down my face. His expression filled with concern and pain. He took me in his embrace tenderly, holding me like I might break any moment. It was hard to imagine that someone so powerful could be so gentle.

"I wish to protect you from this." He desperately whispered, "I don't what them to do to you what they did to…"

His voice faded off, as he softly brushed my hair of my tear stained cheek. He looked so vulnerable and so young, nothing like the fearsome or lusty God that had pounced upon me only nights before.

"I know our passion is not an easy one, and neither is our mantle to bear." He continued, rubbing a lock of my hair between his fingers. "But we must bear it. It is our destiny."

"Our destiny is to be depraved?" I questioned, the sting of Jane's words still ringing in my head.

"Is a crown any less glorious because it forged out of ice instead of gold? Only the summer curses the winter and that it is because it knows it will not survive it. Soon they shall regret what they say." His tone was deathly cold as his mouth formed a devilish smile.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him flirtatiously.

"Take me away with you to Jotunhiem for good." I said, "I want to runaway and hide with you."

One of his eyebrows shot up. "Dearest, there are things that even I cannot do. Odin with not have a member of his family simply vanish from his court. We need to play our game safely."

"So are we to live like this forever? Am I to lie every day and vanish every night?" I tried my best pout.

"Such is the nature of secrets." One of his hands rose dangerously close to my breast.

"Secret suck." I retorted.

"Only for those who don't about them." His hand snaked into the neckline of my dress. My back arched as he began to caress me. I brought one of my legs over his lap so that I was straddling him. His grip tightened and he pulled me closer, grinding into me and burying his head into my soft chest. I felt him begin to heat with desire underneath me, his armor cloaking his tensing muscles, and his crotch starting to strain in his pants. I bent my head to the side and I licked his ear. A husky moan escaped his lips. I did it again.

 _"Ophelia…"_

He was becoming unhinged. I pushed him back against the wall we were seated against, continuing to nibble on his ear. I unclasped the front of my dress, leaving myself open to his roaming hands. His touch burned me up like I was nothing, an ember lost in his blaze. He pinned me to the ground. Dark crystals glowed in his eyes as goosebumps rose on my skin. He breathed me in like a drug while passionately kissing my neck. Every second of contact made me more delirious. My lips trembled as I yearned for him to be inside me again.

"Oh…" He gasped, bringing his mouth to hover just over my own. "You tempt me to do such bad things."

"Then _do_ them."

He lingered over me over for what felt like an eternity before coming in for the kill, his mouth meeting mine feverishly. I heard the sounds of his pants being undone. There was no patience for teasing me this time. Hastily, he positioned himself at my entrance. In a smooth motion, he entered me, his length filling me to the hilt. I bit my lip trying desperately not to cry out in pleasure as he pumped in and out of me with ferocity. The weight of his body heaving upon mine, thrusting in rhythmic bliss, was all I ever needed. My legs wrapped around his back as he continued to ride me, filling me up, emptying me out, making me whole.

I shook as with one of his hands he rubbed my clit in tempo with his thrusts. A muffled moan struggled to escape my lips. Grinning, he stroked faster and pressed harder onto my delicate folds.

"Aghh!" I cried out into the quiet library.

Not about to be outdone, I started kissing along his neck. He growled in response, plunging harder into me. I kept on going down his neck. The rhythm of his thrusts increased. A dream like trance came over me. The warmth in my core of my body was now increasing into an all-consuming haze. His pale skin flushed pink in his cheeks as he rocked over me. My legs clenched around his back, pulling him in closer as my eyes began to flutter. Suddenly, a shock a divine euphoria shot through me. My head tilted back as he dove into me once more, and then he too was overcome with anguishing pleasure, spilling his seed inside me. He placed his mouth upon mine lovingly.

I woke up with start in the same nook that we had made love in. My hair arranged and my dressed tied. This was becoming too normal. However something had changed. There was a little green book in my lap. Tied to the top of the book was a note that said, "read me," in beautiful scrolled lettering. I shrugged and flipped opened the cover. It was a book about magic.


	9. Chapter 8 re

**Author's Notes:**

 **Hey! This is the revised chapter eight with no sexiness happening. If you already read eight than you can skip this one and move on to the next chapter. I'm just trying to maintain ratings for those who want them maintained**

* * *

"You actually came to me…" I whispered in shock, looking up into his hypnotic eyes. "I thought maybe you would answer me, but to come? How does Heimdall not know you here? He can see every soul within the court's walls cannot he not?"

Faint sunlight poured in from the distant windows and warmed his face as he gazed down upon me. "You speak the truth. He does see every soul, but like I have said to you before, you have much to learn." A shadowy smile crossed his lips as he sat down next to me. His lengthy limbs stretched down next to mine, glowing in their golden armor. "Did you really think that I would not come for the one I call lover when she called? If I did not respond to her, what better would I be than a tramp."

He placed his lips upon my cheek and everything blurred into each other: the family, the shame, the loneliness, the condemnation. I couldn't contain it anymore. I melted in the light of his kindness, collapsing into his arms. Tears began streaming down my face. His expression filled with concern and pain. He took me in his embrace tenderly, holding me like I might break any moment. It was hard to imagine that someone so powerful could be so gentle.

"I wish to protect you from this." He desperately whispered, "I don't what them to do to you what they did to…"

His voice faded off, as he softly brushed my hair of my tear stained cheek. He looked so vulnerable and so young, nothing like the fearsome or lusty God that had pounced upon me only nights before.

"I know our passion is not an easy one, and neither is our mantle to bear." He continued, rubbing a lock of my hair between his fingers. "But we must bear it. It is our destiny."

"Our destiny is to be depraved?" I questioned, the sting of Jane's words still ringing in my head.

"Is a crown any less glorious because it forged out of ice instead of gold? Only the summer curses the winter and that it is because it knows it will not survive it. Soon they shall regret what they say." His tone was deathly cold as his mouth formed a devilish smile.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him flirtatiously.

"Take me away with you to Jotunhiem for good." I said, "I want to runaway and hide with you."

One of his eyebrows shot up. "Dearest, there are things that even I cannot do. Odin with not have a member of his family simply vanish from his court. We need to play our game safely."

"So are we to live like this forever? Am I to lie every day and vanish every night?" I tried my best pout.

"Such is the nature of secrets." One of his hands rose up to my neck.

"Secret suck." I retorted.

"Only for those who don't know about them." He planted a sweet kiss on my lips, before vanishing into a cloud of smoke.

I smiled, leaning backwards in bliss, and that is when I noticed that there was a little green book resting beside me. Tied to the top of the book was a note that said, "read me," in beautiful scrolled lettering. I shrugged and flipped opened the cover. It was a book about magic.


	10. Chapter 9

I spent the rest of the day hiding in my room, reading deep into the night and then into the morning. The little book was filled with spells about everything, from how to levitate, to how to enter someone's dreams. My mind was being stretched beyond belief. I barely understood this dimension, not alone the next. I had no idea what the "astral plane" was, or how to project emotions. Some of the passages were in cryptic languages I had never seen before. Other spells asked for sacrifices or for the spellcaster to gather magical objects from places that lurked at the edge of the universe. It was incredible, but it was not completely without drawbacks, for at the bottom of each spell there was a list of possible risks. Some were minor, like burns or temporary numbness, but others were grave, like blindness, madness, and death.

In the margin of its weathered pages were comments written in emerald colored ink. It was the same beautiful handwriting that the note had been written in. Sometimes I came across completely handwritten pages that had been stitched in, detailing how to perform spells that he had discovered himself. My fingers ran over his words softly as I read them. Visions of him alone, scribbling down his discoveries crossed my mind. I was seriously falling for him.

The rays of the mid-morning sun pierced through my window and my sleep deprived eyes winced as I rolled around in my bed. Happy daydreams of him floated in my thoughts. I closed my eyes as drowsiness finally started to take me over.

There was a gentle knock at my door, and I grumbled discontentedly, not wanting to get up.

"Ophelia?"

It was Frigga. I sat up instantly in my bed.

"Coming!" I responded, as in a sudden dizzy scramble, I hid the book under the covers and jumped out the bed. Trying to flatten my bedhead with my hands, I rushed over to the door. Praying that I didn't look like a total mess, I opened the door as calmly as I could.

"I'm sorry to just come without warning." She said, entering the room. "But I need to talk to you." She looked down at me and realized that I was wearing the same dress that was wearing yesterday to Odin's speech.

"Oh, you must think me awful odd." I blushed furiously. "I was up all night reading a book I found in the library."

She laughed softly, while joining me on my small chaise. "You remind of someone…" Her expression grew distant for a moment before she looked back at me. "I would not have come here unannounced without a reason." She took a deep breath. I had never seen her so emotional yet and so unreadable at the same time. "I'm here to talk about what Odin did not talk about yesterday in his address to the court… Loki's crimes."

I stared at her in partial shock that she would have come here to talk about this of all things.

"You are old enough to hear about now, and if he is to be part of our family again, you should know what kind of man he is." She gestured at me. "I shall say it, when he was younger he was not unlike you, reading books all night long."

My expression soured. "That is the second time someone has likened me to him."

"Really?" She tilted her head. "Did Jane do so?"

"Yes…" The folds of my dress crumpled underneath my grip.

"Jane has a deep fear of Loki and of magic. You know that Jane is from Midgard?"

"Yes, I do but, I'm afraid I do not know much about Midgard though."

"It is a sensitive subject." She got up and began around pacing the room, her thoughts weighing heavily on her.

"Loki destroyed Midgard." She suddenly said, like there was no other way around it. "He invaded it," She continued. "He fought against both Thor and Midgard's Avengers. When Loki realized that there was no way he could win or escape he triggered a series of bombs that he had hidden all across the surface of Midgard, killing a great many people."

"How was he permitted to live after doing such a thing?" I asked in horror.

"He is still alive because what he did was not his doing." She sat back down next to me, seeming broken hearted and distraught. "He might have always been a dark and brooding prince, but he was not in his was not in his right mind when he invaded and leveled Midgard. The jeweled scepter that he had wielded and used to brainwash so many in his invasion, had actually brainwashed him. He was merely a vessel of someone far eviler. His mind was possessed with a voice that spoke stronger than a thousand voices. We still to this day do not know who the voice belongs to, but we pray that we never encounter its owner on the battlefield. It has taken decades of work by the priestesses to remove that toxic waste from his mind. Loki has been clear headed for three years now, and the next phase of his adjustment is to be amongst family, but there are those like Jane who do not believe he was innocent. She thinks the voice was a spell that Loki cast on himself in order to protect himself against being executed. She blames him for the destruction of her world and thinks that we are blind to his ways."

I leaned forward, resting my head in my hands. "This is a lot to take in."

"I understand Ophelia, but I'm telling you for more than the sake of just telling you." She took my hands in hers. "I am warning you. How Loki first encountered the scepter is still a mystery. He was guilty of crimes before his invasion Midgard, and if Jane thinks that I am blind it is far from the truth. I know that my son is not good, but also do not believe that he is bad. He is different, and we still do not know what he wants in this new life we are giving him. Just be mindful of what he has done when you meet him tomorrow night, or if he ever speaks to you directly."

"Why would he speak to me?" My eyes rose to meet hers.

"Because, you are different too." My lips parted in surprise. She smiled at me, while gripping my hands reassuringly.

"We should talk more often." She said rising and heading towards the door.

"Yes, we should." I echoed, still sitting overwhelmed on the chaise.

"See you tomorrow." She called while closing the door, leaving me alone in my room to dwell on my newly found thoughts.


	11. Chapter 10

A wet breeze blew by my face as I awoke to an icy chill freezing my bones. Hours seemed to have drifted by in a flash. It seemed like only seconds ago that I had fallen asleep in the afternoon sunlight. Muted pink and red undertones shown across my lids, dim green lights under my eyes, as I moaned. My mind was exhausted from both reading and from Friga's conversation. My room was dark, night had obviously come while I was asleep. A snowstorm was raging outside, whipping against my windows. A loud clattering my made jump out of my skin. The doors to my balcony were open and thrashing in the wind. I struggled to unwind myself out my bedding and rushed to close them, not giving a second thought to look around the room, only focusing on the wet snow that was blowing in. I leaned my body weight against the doors, out of breath and alarmed at the sudden tumult.

I sleepily headed back towards my bed, and that's when I saw him out of the corner of my eye, sitting on my chaise at the far end of the room. I smiled at first, but my happiness vanished as his eyes turned up to me meet mine in the dark. His gaze burned into me with hate and distrust.

"So, your first thought would have been to put me to the sword."

His words cut through the room while he grimaced at me, his fingers restlessly tapping against his knee. I slowly began to back away from him, the back of my legs hitting my bed.

"Why is he still alive?" He titled his head mockingly.

"Loki…" I let his name fall off from my lips as I stood petrified.

"Do you regret having having laid with me now!" He roared, suddenly flying up from the chaise. "Does your skin crawl when you look at me? Am I that monster my mother warned you not to speak to? Tell me!" He paced toward me, his hands clenched in fury. My voice was lost in my mouth.

"Have you nothing to say?" He persisted. "Do I make you that afraid now, girl? Now that you know that am the devil's scourge?"

He lurked over me like a mad animal. Fear and pain cemented me where I stood, numb and silent.

"The play would have been up by tomorrow night anyway." He said turning away from me, his mind whirring and clicking like a mad machine. "But I would have been the one to introduce myself in my own way. Not this way. Imagine us exchanging names while we stood together in a line of respectable people. Us sitting down together at the same table with your parents and mine- All of them not knowing what we know about each other! All of them not knowing what we have what have done with each other! That would have been the best of secrets would it have not?"

He let loose a sigh, turning back to me while smiling sadly, his emotions swinging like a pendulum in his chest. "We could have the universe." He exclaimed in a whisper. "We could do whatever we wanted when we wanted to. We could be Gods amongst mere valkyries. And yet- and yet- you sit you sit there in silence."

"I'm sorry," I said, my tongue dry in my mouth as I sat down on the bed, crushed by him.

"Sorry?" He cried, exasperated in fit of anger.

"I have spent most of my life sitting in silence while people yell at me," I replied, sitting completely still on the bed, as though if I moved I would fall off into an abyss. "It feels natural."

He bent onto his knees in front of me, tenderness returning to his face.

"Ophelia, I shall not lie to you. I am not a moral man. I am perverse. I am wrong. I am vile. I trick people, and I do it often. I am corrupt, and I love all that are corrupted." He reached out to touch my leg, his hand running down my thigh. "I want you by my side. I want you to cry out for me. I want to adore you. I wanto ruin you. I want you to be mine."

His hand rose up to stroke my face. The gentle foothold that he had on my heart was now wrapping around my whole body. I just want to accept it. I was bad too, and I wanted nothing but the best for the worst of all my sins.

"Is this what downfall feels like?" I murmured,

"Does this feel like downfall to you?" He said, taking me in his arms. His mouth landed on mine in possessive kiss and I was reborn. I was chaos, his chaos, and there was no one else I would have rather been.


	12. Chapter 11

"Bed me- now." I gasped as our lips parted, unashamed to be so demanding.

"Bed you?" He purred with a smile, "I shall do more than that tonight... Arise and come with me." He commanded, a meditative passion in his voice as he stood. "The time for shackles is over. I have grown impatient to see you in all your glory. We will have time for carnal pleasure on many more evenings like this one, but tonight I shall free you. I shall unravel that knot of magic you have within your soul. I want to break your mortal bounds. I want to make you a God." His gaze fell down to my chest, his eye watching it as it rose and fell with my breaths. Nothing but the thin fabric of my nightgown covered me from him. "No longer will you be a prisoner in your own ribs."

I slowly rose up from the bed, letting a shadowy smile dance across my lips.

"Who am I to deny a prince?" I whispered,

He chuckled low while aggressively grabbing me into his embrace.

"Are you sure that you don't desire some pleasure tonight?" I smirked, biting my lips.

"Pleasure is a many-sided thing." He whispered, "Now get dressed, or am I going to have abduct you in your nightgown?"

"Why don't you just snap your fingers?" I mused.

He leaned into me, "Because there is nothing more beautiful than a maid undressing while she knows that she is being watched by her lover." A hot flush filled me as he released me from his arms. He sank back onto the bed, a shadow overtaking his face as reclined, leaving me alone for him study.

The air was pulsating with tension as I walked with as much dignity as I could gather over to the wardrobe, his salacious gaze scorching down my back with each step I took. I opened the doors and swept my hair to one side. Shifting off one the shoulders of my nightgown, I looked back at him. His gruesome good looks seeming haunted, wound up like a steel trap. There was something so awful, so alluring about his breed of handsome. With another brush of my hand, I let the nightgown fall, leaving myself bare. The broken moonlight from my window danced across my fresh skin. There was a jolt of intimacy that coursed between us, a dialog without words. My nakedness was sexual as his slight smile was provocative. I didn't feel like a girl anymore.

I reached in and retrieved the silver dress from its hiding place in the back of the wardrobe. The fabric gently rustled as I stepped into it and pulled it over my body, fastening the ties. It conformed to me just as beautifully as it had before.

"Ravishing." He praised, while rising from the bed, obviously proud of his creation. He took a few sauntering steps over to me. "Now let us vanish before the dawn arrives and cuts short our time together."

He reached out and took my hands in his. The now familiar cloud of dark smoke began to swirl around us. A fire like sensation shot through my veins as a pool of mirror like energy formed around our joined hands, swelling from our wrists. Streaks of blinding light flew like shooting stars from the floor. Suddenly, a burst of golden light spread all around us, and in a magnetic surge, we flew right through the ceiling. Like a lightening strike, we came down upon the surface of Jotunheim with an electric boom, burning a knotted pattern into the ice.

To my surprise, we were somewhere different than before. Instead of being on the vast planes of blue ice, we were deep within a crooked valley and surrounded by mountains of ice that rose like jagged teeth around us. In front of us was a mountain that had had it face sheared off and carved into a crystalline pattern. At its base was a pair of sculpted doors with inset blue gems.

"What is this place?" I asked, my warm breath forming a cloud of fog in the cold.

"A Jotun temple." He replied, moving forward towards the doors.

I followed him as the stories about what happened in strange temples with even stranger hosts swelled in my mind. The ceremonies and traditions about what should happen, what would happen, charged the air. "The scepter that he had wielded, had it come from a place like this? And the voice that had rung in his head, had it first spoken from a remote sanctuary like this?" I wondered. The doors swung open with a blast of air as we came upon them, revealing the glassy hall inside. I was instantly hit with a powerful magical aura as we entered.

"Loki-" His name sounding sweet on my tongue. "-I feel cold inside."

"Many things have taken place here in the past, and the past has coldest of aftertastes."

We stepped forward into the hall, as the doors closed with a resounding thud behind us. Our footsteps echoed in the vast emptiness of the temple. The entire inside of the mountain had been carved into. Transparent towering hexagonal pillars, like quartz crystals, rose in a jumble of geometric supports from the floor. Winding stairways branched off above us, leading to unknown places in the higher reaches of the ceiling. In the center of the temple, there was a massive altar made of reflective black stone. Loki was heading right for it, stopping right at its base.

"This is where your destiny awaits you." He said spreading out his arms in exaltation. He turned to me, his head held high. "Do you ever remember seeing anything so grand?"

"Only a bird," I grinned, my heart racing, secretly very afraid of what was about to happen to me.

"Please, sweet one." He entreated, gesturing to the alter. "Get on it."

It felt ironic that still called me sweet when I felt like I might be anything but sweet. Carefully, I pulled up my dress and stepped onto the altar. The stone felt alive under my feet. A confusing swell of emotions arose in my chest, some mine, some from foreign. I wondered how many others had stood upon this altar. I clenched my fists and stood committed, looking distantly at him in the smolder of our nightmare tainted dreams.

"Shut your eyes and let your emotions flow." He guided, stepping up onto the alter too. "It is the only way for the beyond to touch you, and you must let it touch you."

I glanced back at him before closing my eyes and trying to do as he commanded. Brief passing thoughts of my old life burned up before my eyes. Voices seemed to whisper all around me. An overwhelming feeling of pain crept up my spine. I wanted to disintegrate and go in all different directions. My mind hung over the void of my memories.

"Now, I want you to concentrate." He said coming up from behind me and embracing me, piercing through the veil of thoughts. "Before you do anything you need to let go of all your restraint. You power needs to be loosed."

He softly pressed into my wrists with his thumbs. I began to feel heat swell from inside my arms, pooling under his touch. A rhythm overtook my breathing.

"Give yourself over to what inside you."

I pang of fear shot through me. Something inside me still didn't want to lose control.

"I'm scared." I cried out.

"Your scared because you're incomplete." He soothed, pressing a harder. I let out a whimper as silver energy began to drip from my hands. It scorched down my fingers and burst into flames as it hit the altar, molten-like melted metal.

"You are safe with me. The pain will pass after the impurities of underuse burn away."

He held me steadily as the silver continued to scorch me. The pain, however great it was, grew to feel somehow cleansing the longer I experience it. It was incinerating my guilt and my frustration. I grew hungry. Just another drop and I would be free. I could feel it. I was so close. A power began to stream through my limbs. The silver ran over the alter and spilled onto the floor.

He let go of me as an intense force drew my hands upward. I couldn't stop it. My arms were transfixed as above me. All the things that I had ever done were cathartically drained out of me into the flood coming from hands. It filled the temple with light as it branched out from me into the sky. I was shaking like a leaf, but it kept coming out of me in a torrent. Every bit of my strength was being consumed in a feverish blaze. I couldn't hold it anymore, but there was no stopping it.

"Ophelia?" I heard his voice calling, concerned somewhere in the distance.

My vision darkened. A deep tiredness wrapped around my bones and my head hung defeated. Unnervingly, a cracking noise spread above my head. The silver branches splintered in a violent burst, fracturing into a thousand shards. Uncontrollable, the suspended field of energy erupted overhead, knocking me down against the floor. The floor spun and his shadow crossed over me before his strong hands picked me up from the altar. The smell of smoke and burning embers stung my nose as slipped out of consciousness.


	13. Chapter 13

Broken apologies swam through my head. I knew that he was there with me, hanging above my body. My eyes were sealed shut as a tomb as I hung motionless, weightless. Where ever I was, I was not truly there. I was somewhere deep inside myself. I felt like I could drift forever within the crevasses of my body, dancing with the silver demon. It was there inside me. I could sense it, see it, unlike before when it was repressed inside my soul. Like an injured animal, it was now brooding at the back of my skull. It was blood of my blood, but it did not feel like me. It was energy. It was alive. It was starved. "Malignant?" I wondered. "Or just different?"

I heard Loki's voice echoing down at me, but comprehended no words, just vague syllables of panic and regret. He was worried and in distress. I tried to bring myself out of this state, but I failed, drowning in exhaustion.

Just as I was about to be sucked below an even deeper horizon, a warmth slowly spread from my back. Its golden light entered my dreams and sought me. It enveloped me in its rays and pulled me from the abyss. With a rush, I felt my lungs filling with life. My eyes flickered open, and my bedroom ceiling came into focus.

"Ophelia!" Loki gasped, laying his head upon my chest, his hands grasping mine. I knew instantly that was his magic that brought me out. "Don't forsake me again. I was-" His eyes flashed at mine. No words passed from his lips, but his expression told me everything as he bent in to kiss me desperately.

"I'm fine now," I reassured, putting my hands on his cool cheeks. "It was just a little too much for me. That was all."

"Too much? I felt you drawing away from me, from reality." His expression became wrought with concern as he knelt next to me. "Do you not realize what could have happened?"

I thought back to the warnings at the bottom of the spells. Had he just saved my life? I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to know how close I had come. Somehow that thing living inside me became more sinister now.

"I saw it," I said grimly, struggling to sit up to face him.

"You saw 'it'?" He asked, raising a perplexed eyebrow.

"The thing, the magic, you know? It was just coiled there inside me. I don't know how to describe it, out of body yet in body, but I did see it, and it was hungry."

His expression darkened, and his brow furrowed with guilt. "It was my fault. I should have never pushed you."

"I'm okay-"

"-No you're not." He cut, with a seriousness that frightened me. "You're not well. I tried to make you whole and instead I have severed you… or a least uncovered something that had been severed." He paused, in thought. Without a sound, he stood up and began to pace the room slowly, before stopping with his back to me.

"Tell me, did the priestesses do anything to you when they saw your magic? Perform any rite? Give you anything to drink?"

"What?" I exclaimed in shock at his suspicious line of thought. "Do you think they tried suppress my powers?"

"It's not beyond the realm of belief." He replied in a disenchanted tone.

"It's beyond my belief." I contested. "They might have tried to stop me from practicing magic, but I don't think they would have tried to take it away, repress it? Is that even possible?"

"I know them, Ophelia." He grimly declared. "I spent the last twenty-one years of my life with them while they exorcised me, dividing spirit from bone and putting me back together again." An oppressive swell of despair radiated out of him a he stood there mechanically straight. "I think I know what they can do." He continued, turning towards me. "They can bind magic, separate it, and push it down. There are many things that they can do, more than they let people know. They might not have been able to take away what you have been given, but they could have certainly cut its ties with your soul. Something or someone has tried to detach you from who you are. Was it them?" His somber eyes flashed in thought as he looked back at me, still a deathly shade of pale from being knocked down. His expression shifted to that of tenderness. "Or was it you, dearest?"

"Me?" I was starting to wonder if he was all there. "How could I possibly do something like that?"

"Sometimes when we can not accept who we are, we reject ourselves." He usually self-assured voice was shaking a little bit. "We hide from the truth. We cut off things about ourselves that offend us, and we self-contain to them point that we forget who we really are. It is a disunion of self and it hurts." He smoothed back the lock hair which had fallen into his face while becoming silent once again in thought.

I looked at his distraught beauty, a question sticking in my throat. "Are you speaking from experience?" I finally said after a long pause.

He sighed softly in response and sat down on the bed next me. Last night's storm had broken and first rays of the dawn were beginning to cross into my bedroom, trailing along the floor. I reached out to him and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"What's inside me?"

"It won't hurt you for now." He answered, knowing exactly what I was really asking. "But I'm afraid that things will become worse before they become better, that is if you ever want to use your powers like you were born to use them. You will suffer, and it hurts me to say that I cannot prevent you from suffering."

"And what comes after the suffering?"

"Whatever you want." A mysterious smile grew across his mouth. There was no one but him for me. He took me in his arms and he kissed me rawly, the bittersweet taste of sadness and desire behind each touch~


End file.
